A Criminal's Window
by CierraLuv97
Summary: Minnie Bowers never wanted to become a criminal. She had hopes and dreams, too. Until the age of twelve. Three years after tragedy strikes her family, she finds it nessacery to take matters into her own hands. Mystery Inc comes in at the end


**_Hey guys. Cierra here. This story was something I'd been toying with for a while: a look at Mystery Inc through the eyes of the criminal. But what if the criminal had a good reason for committing a crime? What if she was just a tired, fifteen year old girl named Minnie, who was just trying to get back what was rightfully hers? Mystery Inc don't come in until the end, but I hope you like it! Personally, I don't think it's my best piece of work, but that's for the reader to decide._**

I didn't mean to become a criminal. I never wanted to. Until I was twelve, I wanted to be a figure skater. The best of them all. I'd wait there at the Olympics, and when the judges named me, Minnie Camilla Bowers, the rightful owner of that glorious gold medal, I'd scream in excitement and thank my family and my friends on TV, and then I'd get my own movie and everything would be spectacular.

But nothing ever works out like you want to. One minute, you're daydreaming about your very own line of figure skates during 7th grade math class, and the next minute you're called down to office where Principal Roberson informs you that your sister Unique was killed in a car accident, and your world comes crashing down on you like a ton of bricks.

Unique was my big sister by three years. She was amazing and incredible and unique. Her name fit. Sometimes, I'd wondered how my sister had gotten a name like Unique and I got named Minnie. Unique had the prettiest blond hair in the world, and she had the best laugh in the world, and she never said anything mean to me. She was my big sister and because of Unique, I thrived. Unique was the one who introduced me to figure skating. Unique was the one who made crazy plans that never worked, but were branded onto my mind.

When Unique died, it had been just me and Mom and my seven year old brother Constant in the house, but everyone came home as soon as they heard. Candi, my twenty-eight year old sister, came home. I hardly even know Candi. She's just like another relative I have to be polite to. What's worse, she brought her husband Calvin and her four year old son Grant. Grant is a crier. Hadley, who was twenty-one at the time, came home, too. She lived in Europe, lucky her. Europe was where the class was. Dannie came back from college for a few days. Dannie was my best friend, after Unique. He was seven years older than me, but that didn't make a single difference.

Relatives were everywhere, and the worst part was that Dad came home. Mom and Dad divorced when I was ten. And it was two years later, and Dad was here with his new wife Diane, my new step-brother Reagan and my new step-sister Kelly. All of them are disgraces to the human race.

When they all left, I threw my skates in garbage bin when Mom wasn't looking. Not that she would have noticed. All she cared about now was Unique. A month later, she started desperately trying to forget about Unique. It was pathetic.

Three months later, she announced we were moving in with Mom's boyfriend, who lived a few blocks away. As if life couldn't get any worse. Jaylen smoked and he was scary. His daughter Elizabeth was my age, but she was a total slut. Once, during social studies, she whispered to me that she'd come close to doing certain things with her boyfriend Maverick over the weekend. I avoided her from then on.

I packed my clothes, and then I set to work with Unique's things. I took all of the important stuff with me. The rest, I hid under the floorboards in Unique's room. I didn't want the next person who lived here to put their filthy hands all over her stuff. Besides, Mom didn't want to bring it with us. The whole point of this move was to forget about Unique.

Maybe, if I wasn't an idiot, I could have still stopped myself from becoming a criminal. I still had my best friends Kimberlee Tran and Carlisa Lamb, I still had Constant, and I still had my mom. Of course, now she was a freak, but she was still there.

I didn't become a criminal until I was fifteen. Life was considerably worse then. Jaylen and my mom were engaged. Kimberlee had moved away, and Carlisa wanted nothing to do with me. I was in love with my new best friend, Dean Harrington, but he had a girlfriend, Brianna Casey, and she hated me.

It was May during my freshman year, and I am going through Unique's stuff. I did it often. I was so scared that I would forget her, like Mom had. I went through all the things that I'd brought with me, and forced myself to remember the stories. I made myself paint vivid pictures of Unique in my mind.

As I am fingering her charm bracelet, I get the familar feeling that something is missing. I'd felt it before, but I'd never figured out exactly what was missing, so I'd forgotten it.

And then it hits me with a jolt. One of the charms is missing! And not just any of the charms, but _the _charm. The one from her boyfriend, Andy, that he got for her before he moved away. It was a tiny little chrystal heart. Unique had loved it more than anything, and where was it sitting? Under the rotten floorboards in her room. I had to get it back.

The next day after school, I get Dean to come with me to our old house. I knock on the door firmly and buisness-like. When an angry, gum-chewing girl a little older than me answers, I tell her that I am Minnie Bowers, that I used to live in that house, and that I'd left something there that I need to get back.

"Go away," The girl snaps.

"It was my sister's -" I tried to insist.

"Yeah, I don't care. Me and my boyfriend were watching a movie when you interrupted. Go back to wherever you came from." The girl starts to close the door.

"Listen, kid," Dean says, even though the girl is older than him.

"Sybella." She corrects.

"Sybella. Can we at least talk to your mom?" Dean pleads.

Maybe it was Dean's big brown eyes, or maybe it was just that he was a male, because Sybella visibly softens. "Yeah, whatever. I'll get her."

A few moments later, a large woman comes to the door. If possible, she looks more disagreeable than Sybella. "Sybella said you wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, ma'am." Dean says politely. "I'm Dean Harrington and this is my friend Minnie Bowers. Minnie used to live here, and she left something of her sister's here in her sister's old room. It'd be awfully nice if we could go up and get it."

"If she left it here, how come I haven't noticed it before?" Sybella's mom grunts.

"I left it under the floorboards, ma'am." I murmur.

The woman's eyes snaps. "No way. I'm not letting a bunch of delinquent teenagers come and rip up my home. Go bug someone else." And then the woman slammed the door right in our faces.

"Well, what are you going to do now?" Dean asks as we start to walk away, disheartened.

"I'll get it," I promise. "I just need to figure out how."

I don't have a plan until the next day, when I'm at the supermarket, doing the shopping, as usual. I hear someone say the name Sybella, and I unconsciously start eavesdropping.

"I can't believe your going out with Sybella," A guy's voice says from the otherside of the apple stand. I slow to a halt.

"She's cool, David," Another guy's voice argues. "She's just upset at a lot of people, but I think I'm in love with her."

"Oh, get real, Deshawn," David scoffed. "Her entire family is messed up. Have you noticed how superstitious they are?"

I don't hear Deshawn's answer, because they walk away. I am standing still, thinking, an idea slowly forming. Superstitious, eh? And then my idea turns into a plan. It's foolproof.

* * *

Four days later, I'm standing defiantly in front of my old home. A policeman stands in front of me. Beside him are four teenagers and a dog.

I know the cop. It's Officer Clarke, who used to be a librarian. She was always so nice to me when I didn't have anywhere to eat during second grade. Of course she's the one who's going to drag me off to jail. It just figures.

The teenagers, I don't know. There are two guys and two girls, and they all look around eighteen or nineteen. One of the guys is tall, with messy brown hair. He's a nervous wreck, but now that they've taken off my werewolf mask he pretends to be all brave. The other guy is blond, and really hot, but he looks like the kind of senior who'd never pay a freshman like me any attention.

The taller of the girls is beautiful. She has red hair and sparkly green eyes and a perfect figure. Her eyes dart from me to the blond guy to me. It'd be no surprised if the blond guy and the red-head were together. The other girl is considerably shorter, with short brown hair and dork glasses. She looks like one of those people who, when the explain stuff, they have to go over every stinking detail.

"We just don't know why she did it, Officer," The blond guy is saying. I don't know who they think they are. Who says they can march in here, stick their noses into my buisness and kill my plan? I don't see a police badge on them.

"Well, Miss Bowers?" Officer Clarke raises her eyebrows. "You've always been such a sweet girl. I just don't get it."

I glare at her, even though I really like Officer Clarke. "Because I left the charm in the floorboards and I have to get it!"

"You did all that just to get a charm?" The brunette asks skeptically.

"_The_ charm! It was Unique's favorite charm on her bracelet. When we were moving out of here, I put most of her stuff under the floor, so it'd be safe. I took all the important stuff with us. But I forgot the charm, and I had to get it back. Me and my friend Dean tried to get the people who live here to let us go up and get it, but they got really angry at us and told us to bug off. I heard they were superstitious and I figured if I could just scare them away for a little bit, I could get it back. I didn't want to be a criminal!" I take a deep breath.

"Like, who's Unique?" The messy guy asks.

"Unique was my sister," I mutter. "She died three years ago in a car crash."

"Oh," The red-head sucks in a breath. "Fred..."

"I know," the blond guy - Fred - murmurs. More clearly, he says to Officer Clarke, "Will Minnie have to go to jail?"

"Well..." Officer Clarke hesitates. "I guess she didn't do any damage. All she really did was scare the Boones out of their home. I suppose I could let her get off with a warning."

I breathe a sigh of relief, then I remember that I still don't have the charm. "Officer Clarke? Can I get the charm? I didn't have a chance to get it."

"Sure, honey," Officer Clarke says kindly. I nod in thank you and run up through the door. Over the past few days, I'd been in this house a lot, but it still feels weird to be here again.

The charm is there in the floorboards, with Unique's other stuff. I clutch it tightly, happy to have it in my hand again. Then I run back down the stairs. I want to get home so I can put it on the charm bracelet, where it belongs.

I hear them talking as I get near the door, and instead of walking out, I slow to a stop and listen.

"You know, dispite the fact that she's a criminal - well, in our standards -, Minnie seems like a nice kid." Fred says.

"She must have been only eleven or twelve when Unique died." The red-head whispers.

"Re rust re ro rad," A strange voice says. I frown. As far I had noticed, there were only four people.

"I know. That probably made her a bit angry at everything," The brunette says.

"Like, you can say that again, Velma." The messy guy mutters. I grit my teeth.

"Oh, give her slack, Shaggy!" The red-head snaps. I'm surprised she's so angry. "Her sister died, and she was so little - her and Unique both. It was hard enough for me when Dawn died, and I was fifteen." Her sister died, too?

"I know, Daph," Fred says gently.

The voices seem to get more distant. They must be walking away. I roll the charm around in my palm, thinking. I wish I could have gotten to know those people. They seemed nice. Even through a criminal's window, they seemed like the kind of people I wanted to get to know.


End file.
